American Cat
by Yoyosoul
Summary: AU Kyo gets adopted by someone outside of the Sohma family and leaves Japan. When he comes back he's quite different from the Kyo everyone knows.


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing! Fruits Basket is the property of some other people.

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><p>Kyo looked around him hoping to spot something familiar. He <strong>was not <strong>lost. He did not **get** lost, unlike stupid Haru. He didn't need an escort just to find the bathroom. No, Kyo wasn't lost; he just didn't know where he was.

Kyo let out a sigh and turn his head down to stare at the ground as he continued walking down the street. He had known he wasn't supposed to wonder around without an adult but he just couldn't bring himself to go home. Not when he knew his mother was waiting for him, waiting to see if he still had the bracelet on. Unconsciously his hand went to rap around his bracelet. He hate how his mother always said she loved him but checked his arm every time he came home to make sure it was still there. It was a stupid thing to do seeing as how he would be a monster if it weren't. His hand unconsciously clenched around the bracelet.

Kyo let out another sigh and began to kick random objects that crossed his path. He had snuck out of the estate in hopes of getting away from everyone for a while. He was getting tired of all the people talking about him like he wasn't there or couldn't hear them. He was tired of being called stupid, a monster, a burden, the cat, and so many other things that he wished he could forget. He had wondered off, not really paying attention to where he was going, and now he couldn't find his way back home. He kept wondering hoping that the same force that had gotten him into this situation might get him out.

That's when it happened, Kyo bumped into someone, falling down from the impact. Kyo quickly looked up and found to his horror that the person he bumped into was a **girl**. The person turned around and looked down at Kyo. She had shoulder length brown hair, olive green eyes, was about 5'6", and clearly wasn't of Japanese or even Asian decent. She was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, a pair of jeans, and a black backpack. Kyo was just thankful that he hadn't accidentally transformed.

Her eyes widened slightly when she spotted him before she knelt down and offered him her hand. Kyo looked at the hand cautiously before accepting it and letting the stranger help him off the ground.

"Are you hurt?" the stranger asked in a kind voice.

Before Kyo could answer her she brought out a bottle of water and a pack of tissues from her backpack, knelt down, and began to gently wash his hands. Once she was done she placed the items back where they came from and slowly stood up.

"Your hands look a little ruffed up but they're not bleeding so I guess you're not hurt too bad," the stranger said while stretching. She bent back down so that she was once again at eyelevel with Kyo.

"So where are your parent?" she asked while looking behind him to see if there was anyone else around. Kyo just looked down at the ground and fidgeted, too embarrassed to answer the woman's question.

"Are you lost?" she asked. Kyo's head snapped up. "NO!" he shouted. The woman just raised a single eyebrow in response and Kyo quickly looked back down at ground, blushing in embarrassment. This was the most embarrassing moment of his life.

"Do you know where you live?" the lady asked. Kyo looked back up, frowning, and replied "The Sohma estate."

"That's not really useful. Do you know what the address of the Sohma estate is or what street that's on?" the lady asked sounding slightly frustrated. Kyo's frown deepened and he looked down shaking his head no. He hadn't learned that information yet.

The stranger stood up and sighed. "I guess that we'll just have to ask the police for help in getting you home then. By the way I'm Marie who are you?" she asked as she held her hand out for Kyo to hold. After a moments hesitation Kyo grabbed her hand and responded, "I'm Kyo." They proceeded to the police station.

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><p>Kyo looked around nervously at the various people passing by him. The police station was way too crowded for Kyo's taste, and he was constantly worrying the some girl would bump in to him and make him transform. He flinched as another person came too close to him. With the number of people here transforming would be a very bad thing. Transforming here would mean he would have to see Akito for letting such a large group of people see him. Kyo hadn't had too many encounters with the family head but the ones he had made him wish he had never even herd of Akito.<p>

Kyo was brought out of his dark thoughts about Akito by a hand genteelly squeezing his own. He looked up to see the green eyed, foreign lady give him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, your safe," she said in a soft voice and squeezed his hand again.

Kyo turned his head back towards the crowded room. He and the lady he ran into had been waiting for about two hours for the police to find Kyo's home, and with every minute that passed Kyo got more and more anxious. The only thing stopping him from running away in terror right now was the hand firmly holding his. He silently prayed that the policeman they talked to would come back soon and take him home. He may have hated his home but he hated being in a crowded place like this even more.

Forty-five minutes later and Kyo's prayers were finally answered. However, Kyo would have to go home in the police car. Kyo bit his lip has he fidgeted around nervously. The thought of going home by himself with the police officer sounded very scary. He was saved once again by the foreign lady.

"Do you want me to go home with you?" she asked and placed her hand on his shoulder giving it a squeeze.

Kyo nodded his head vigorously in response. She may have been a girl, and he may have only known her for a few hours, but he **really** didn't want to face his mom and family alone. As they rode together in the back of the car they began idly talking. Kyo shied away from any conversation involving his family and the foreign lady seemed to notice and frown at that. They talked about various things they liked, things they disliked, and so on. She had apparently never herd of leeks! Kyo decided at that moment to move to wherever she was for so he would never have to see or here of the horrid vegetable ever again.

Finally they arrived out side the gates of the Sohma estate and after much talking Kyo finally managed to convince the officer that he could find his way home on his own now. Kyo really didn't want to explain way he was with a policeman; it was bad enough that he was going home with a foreign lady. It was bad enough that he had wondered off on his own and meet his current companion, but if his family found out about the police he was in **big** trouble. As he walk with his foreign companion he couldn't help but wonder if this is what it felt like to knowingly walk to ones death. As his house came into view he began to panic, unconsciously squeezing the hand of the lady he was with. When he felt a hand squeeze back he immediately whipped his head over to look at her. She squeezed his hand again and gave him another reassuring smile.

"Don't worry your safe and we'll just keep the visit with the police between us," she said, giving him a wink. Kyo just gave her an uncertain look. She crouched down so that she was eyelevel with and with a serious face held up her hand with her pinky extended and said, "Pink promise."

Kyo couldn't hold back a small fit of giggles at the sight and quickly lopped his pinky with hers and shook hands. Feeling reassure by her words he began to relax a bit and once again began to walk towards his home. He refused, however, to relax completely until he was safely in his room and finished with the inevitable interrogation he would get from his mom.

Once he stood before the door to his house he felt his fear begin to rise again. The wait for the door to open felt like an eternity. As the door slowly opened Kyo held his breath as the face of his mother came into view. His mother's eyes widened slightly at the sight of the unfamiliar woman before her and a slight panicked looked entered her eyes before disappearing.

"Hi, you must be this boy's mother. I'm sorry to bother you but I happened to bump into your son while walking. He seemed to be lost so I decided to escort him home and make sure nothing happened to him. It's nice to meet you. By the way, my name is Marie Sabat.," Marie said and gave a slight wave in greeting.

Kyo's mother returned the wave with a weak smile and quickly looked between Kyo and Marie. It was clear see wanted the foreign woman gone but wasn't sure how to make her leave with drawing attention or sounding rude. Marie either took no notice or chose to ignore the other woman's distress and turned her head to look at Kyo.

"Kyo, why don't you go to bed? You must be exhausted after everything that's happened," Kyo's mother ordered.

"Do you mind if I come over to check up on your son some time tomorrow, say, around 3:50?" Marie asked.

Kyo's mother shifted nervously while looking between her son and the foreign woman before reluctantly nodding her head.

"Good, then I'll come over tomorrow around then. I'll see you then," she said before turning around and giving a small wave goodbye over her shoulder and headed back the way she came in.

Kyo watched her go until he couldn't see her any more before running into his room and hugging his pillow to his chest. He knew what was coming next, The Interrogation, and he knew this time would be worse than the others since he had brought a **girl **home this time. As expected, his mother burst into his room looking hysterical. His mother rush towards him and grabbed his wrist so tightly that he had to fight back a wince of pain.

"What were you thinking bringing someone like that here! Did she hug you! Did you get hugged by any other girls! Did anyone see you transform!" she ranted and continued to rant.

Kyo answered her as quickly as he could while clutching his pillow closer to his body. After over an hour of answering his mother's questions she finally left. It took all of Kyo's willpower not to cry once she was gone. He was used to these questions and it's not like his mother hurt him since she was afraid to touch him, but he couldn't help but feel disgusted with himself after it was over. The only good thing that happened was that this time his mom was so caught up worrying about Marie that she forgot to check is wrist to make sure the bracelet was still there. After a few moments Kyo finally managed to drift off into a restless sleep.

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><p>The next day at around 3:50 Marie arrived at his house as promised, much to the displeasure of Kyo's mother. After exchanging a few 'Hello's' and 'How are you's' there was a moment of awkward silence between the two. It was clear finally broken by the arrival of Kyo. Kyo's mother gave a nod and decided to leave. After all if this woman had any intention of harming Kyo she could have done so at any time yesterday and there were plenty of family members nearby if some thing did happen. No one could fault her on her logic if anything did happen.<p>

Marie heaved a sigh of relief and turning to Kyo asked, "Do you want to watch something?"

Giving a hesitant nod, Kyo led Marie to the TV and the two began to watch cartoons.

Afterwards Kyo's life fell into a new pattern. Every other day or so Marie would come over and they would watch movies, or play games, or just talk. Kyo was happier than he could ever remember being, which wasn't saying much since he was only four and couldn't remember well most of his life to that point. However, like all things it had to end. No one who was cursed by the spirits of the zodiac could spend extended time in the company of a member of the opposite sex and expect them to never find out. After three weeks of bliss Kyo's time keeping his secret from Marie had run out.

It had started out innocently enough. Kyo and Marie had been watching a movie, they had a silly disagreement, they ended up having a popcorn fight, and that's when it happened. Marie made a grab for him and ended up hugging him in the process. With a loud pop Kyo the boy had been replaced by Kyo the kitten.

When Kyo realized what had happened he looked up at her in horror, as much as a cat could anyway. Kyo was just thankful his mom had left to go get groceries at the moment. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable, waited for her to call him a freak and a monster, waited for her to run screaming, waited for his life to go back to the way it was before she came into his life. When he heard a loud scream he waited for the blows to come only to open his eyes in surprise when he felt two arms rapping around him in a hug.

"You're sooo cute!" she cried out, and tightened her hug.

Kyo could only stare at her in shock. He had never herd of anyone calling the cat cute before. He was suppose to be the outcast, the monster, the thing no one wanted, he was not suppose to be cute.

"Why are you hugging me? Aren't you afraid of me? Don't you think I'm a monster?" Kyo asked in a mixture of fear and aw.

Marie just blinked a couple of times before giving him a questioning look.

"Why would I be afraid of you? You're adorable!" she cried. After a moment she gave him another curious look and asked him, "How did you turn into a cat anyway?"

After explaining his family's curse and the legend of the zodiac, he was surprised when she told him she had never heard of the legend; he waited anxiously for her to take it all in. She let him out of the hug and turned her head away waiting for him to transform back and get dress. He expected her to act like he originally thought she would after hearing everything but she just remained calm through the whole thing. Even after he had turned back and gotten dressed she still stayed with him. Finally he couldn't take it any more.

"WHY ARE YOU SO CALM! I'M A MONSTER, A FREAK, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT! WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE! WHY HAVEN'T YOU RUN AWAY!" he screamed with tears flowing down his face. Kyo began to furiously wipe at them. He hated to cry since it never did anything and boys weren't supposed to cry.

He stopped trying to wipe his tears away when he felt a large had brush some of his tears away. He looked up to seem Marie give that same soft smile she gave him when they first meet.

"Kyo, you are not a monster. I admit that it's weird that you turn into a cat when girls hug you or your sick but it's not scary. I'm here because I want to be with you. I like spending time with you and I don't want to stop anytime soon. I'm calm because I'm still a little shocked after everything you told me but that doesn't mean I'll like you any less once the shock wears off. I think I've answered all your questions now so why don't we go out and get some ice-cream?" she asked while trying her best to calm him down. Kyo just nodded his head in response.

"Good. Lets keep this all a secret between the two of us O.K.?" she said and gave him a wink.

Kyo nodded his head furiously this time. If anyone found out about this he would be in really big trouble and Marie would have to go away forever. He didn't want that. With this act Kyo unknowingly set off a chain of events that would drastically change his life.

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><p><strong>A.N.<strong> I rewrote this fic because there were some plot holes that were bugging me and my OC was too much of a Mary Sue. Hopefully I've fixed that. I've also ran into some blocks along the way that I was not sure how to deal with such as certain spoilers but I figure there not really all that important now. Also, I'm thinking of doing a separate story containing one shots of Kyo's life in America since they are not important to the plot of this story and would just end up as useless filler. Let me know what you think.


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